January 3, 2019

Best & Not Quite Best Books I Read In 2018

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is 'Best Books I Read In 2018' but I don't have that many best of so I'm going to list a few best books and the rest are books that could have been on my best book list.Best books I read in 2018I didn't read that many books in 2018 but these are my new favorites.

01/ Rilla of Ingleside (Anne of Green Gables #8) by L.M. Montgomery
I wish there is more to the ending. It's one of those endings with a conclusion but you have to imagine the rest but it's a good read and I can now say I have read all of Montgomery's books if you don't count the short stories.

Favorite quote: “There was something in her movements that made you think she never walked but always danced.”

02/ The Tiffany Aching Adventure (part of Discworld) by Terry Pratchett
These Tiffany Aching books makes this my first time reading Terry Pratchett and it was fun. I read these quickly and books that I read quickly usually means I like them a lot.

Favorite quote: "I don't know about the world, not much; but in my part of the world I could make little miracles for ordinary people," Granny (Weatherwax) replied sharply. "And I never wanted the world — just a part of it, a small part that I could keep safe, that I could keep away from storms. Not the ones of the sky, you understand: there are other kinds."
– from The Shepherd's Crown

03/ The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
Technically I read the last two books in 2018 and the first two books years before that. Cinder is my favorite book and my most favorite character from the whole series; Scarlet - I still don't like her; Cress is okay but she's too much like the Disney movie character; Winter is...I really don't get but she seems to fit the snow white character perfectly. Their counterparts are okay but Jacin - that guy has nothing but Winter on his mind, everything he does is for her - isn't this a bit over obsessive? Other than that, it's a great series.

Favorite quote: "And then there was Cinder. This completely normal girl, working this completely mundane job. She was always covered in dirt or grease and she was so brilliant when she was fixing things. And she joked about stuff with me, like she was talking to a normal guy, not a prince. Everything about her seemed so genuine."
– from Cress

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not Quite Best Books I Read In 2018These are books I read in 2018 that might have been on my best books list but somehow didn't make it.

04/ Shadows on the moon by Zoë Marriott
This book depresses me because it seems rather painful to read about someone not only getting hurt by others but by her own hands. As much as this book is overwhelmed with all of Suzume's suffering, I can't ignore the beautiful imaginary it provokes. I like the Japan setting. I like the idea of Cinderella having magic but it's just so depressing the way the story goes, there's a happy ending yes, but too much suffering.

05/ Ringer by Lauren OliverRinger is a sequel to Replica, it's not awful but we should have gotten more or better answers instead of more of the same - it's like reading Replica again only with added violence and sex. I think I shouldn't have read this sequel at all, I like Replica just fine.

06/ The Underwater Ballroom Society edited by Tiffany Trent and Stephanie Burgis
Many reviewers said how great this collection is but to me, they were a little disappointing, the stories seems like leftovers that are cut from some better novels but there are a few good stories there but not enough to make this collection worth reading but the cover is lovely.

07/ The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy
The mystery is what brought me to read The Disappearances and every time it seems something is revealed or going to be revealed, they keep straying to the puppy love bits and that annoys me and the mystery is sort of bland. I guess my expectation was too high but I did enjoy most of the book.

08/ The Shape of Water by Guillermo Del Toro and Daniel Kraus
I read the book before seeing the movie but the book and movie seems about the same except the book has slightly more details. I guess I just didn't like how the story is written. Why have a creature as the central focus but we get nothing about it/him, well, there are a few bits but not enough to justify her attraction towards him, maybe it's the wordlessness of both characters, that unspoken thing we can't understand because we are not them. They could have told this in the creature's point of view more. The ending is a bit vague - like some things are just not clear if it's one way or another. I guess I just didn't understand these characters enough to understand the story?

09/ The Keepers of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger
Sophie is just too perfect for me to like. She is good at everything and someone who is good at everything isn't fun to watch at all. Okay, there are a few instances where she fails but they are nothing compare to her great abilities which they are probably going to add more because apparently she doesn't have enough special abilities already. And the little magic that is called licking is annoying - how is that magic? Maybe it's me but I find Sophie to be a bit bland in that she have no flaws other than her stumble into trouble here and there and those troubles either goes away or gets fixed so not much really matters until they say it does.

10/ Nevermoor - The trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
I guess I have I have too high an expectation because this book isn't as fun as people said it is. I was disappointed by the magic and the lack of humor considering the premise sounds so much fun. This is a first in a series so maybe the other books are a lot more fun but I don't know. The book does have a great beginning though.

I'm not sure if I ever realized Anne of Green Gables had so many books in the series! I need to finish the Lunar Chronicles myself--I only have Winter to go, but I didn't enjoy Cress as much either. Bummer to see Nevermoor and The Underwater Ballroom Society on here. I've been meaning to pick them up, but just haven't gotten around it yet. Looks like a good year!

I am a big, big fan of Terry Pratchett. And loved the Tiffany Aching Series.I did enjoy NeverMoor (and its sequel) but wouldn't rate either of them as BEST. Thanks for the heads up to books and series I don't know.

I know this is a crazy kind of question, but the font on the books in the The Tiffany Aching Adventure series by Terry Pratchett (titles) fascinates me. Do you by any chance know what it's called? Thank you.

do you mean the book title fonts? I like them too. I have searched for the font but I couldn't find any that matches.

the books have credited typography by Hilary Zarycky for the first three books & Christopher Stengel for the last two books but they don't specify the font name but I think it's one of those special fonts that are created just for the covers.

Thanks for trying. I tried too, and had no luck. As I live in "faraway" Denmark (in the countryside even), I could not just look inside the books. And for that very same reason I also have only read Anne of Green Gables among all the books you mention. I ot to wait for them to get imported for less than a fortune and a half. I liked Anne of Green Gables and sequels, and those of the Diskworld series, I have come by. I'll be on the lookout for books on your list whenever I hit a big city :) Thanks once again

I love Terry Pratchett, have read almost all his books, but the later ones (including the last two Tiffany books) were not as good as when he was well and at his peak writing ability. It's very tragic. The Shepherd's Crown is basically unreadable to me.

I love Rilla of Ingleside but I do think the ending was a let down, not really justified in any way, although in a later collection of short stories she does try to remedy that.

blog archive

follow by email

This blog is powered by Blogger, faraway friends, rain seekers, untrained thoughts, girls with typewriters, books and lots of them, postcards from the rain, found memories, and the rain. Thank you for visiting & have a lovely day.

All artwork & photography by lissablue (lb) unless otherwise stated. If you use one of my creations, please credit a link to this blog. Thank you.